`Burung Garuda' RI's unknown endangered raptor

By Jan Wind

BOGOR, W. Java (JP): Burung Garuda Indonesia or the Javan Hawk Eagle, is one of the world's most endangered raptors, yet remains largely unknown.

Its protection in the wild is urgent. It was therefore thoughtful to select this species as the republic's national bird. However, it is still unclear whether this new status will induce timely action to save this species from extinction.

So far the new status has merely increased the threats to the bird, while the positive impact is yet very low, very few people know that the Javan Hawk Eagle is the national bird, and even less are able to identify it in the field.

Local funds to study, monitor or protect this truly magnificent bird are minimal. Some attention is given in the framework of surveys on Red Data Book bird species and on identification of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) by the directorate general of forest protection and nature preservation (PHPA) and Birdlife International.

The Javan Hawk Eagle is restricted to the densely populated island of Java. There are none to be found on either Sumatra or Bali. This despite the fact that the distance between Bali and Java is only a few kilometers of sea and the forested mountains of Bali are easily seen in the East Javan bird habitat of Mount Ijen.

The estimated total population of the Javan Hawk Eagle has dropped to an all time low of some 150-200, thinly spread over some 25 separate mountain and hill forest blocks. They are mainly found in the western and eastern parts of Java, where most of the remaining 8 percent of the island's natural forest is found.

Resit Sozer and Vincent Nijman, biology students of the University of Amsterdam who are currently studying the eagle have confirmed that the species also still occurs in some mountain areas of the sparsely forested Central Java.

This probably indicates that west and east Java populations are not yet isolated from each other. They may still form one "megapopulation" distributed over a number of forest patches that are connected by the movement of individuals in the population.

However the gaps between populations may soon become too wide due to further habitat loss and fragmentation, or due to genetic drift in the smaller mountain refuges. The one megapopulation will then split into smaller populations. Chances of degeneration due to inbreeding will increase, and the vulnerability linked to low numbers may result in total extinction.

Bird ecologists estimate that a breeding pair needs a range of at least 3,000 - 5,000 hectares of good natural forest, usually with two or three valleys and mountain slopes. This means that one of the largest contiguously forested conservation area in Java, the Gunung Halimun National Park (40,000 hectares) will harbor only around 10 breeding pairs provided all suitable habitats are occupied.

Javan Hawk Eagles are supposedly not different from other tropical Hawk Eagles in being very slow reproducers. They become mature after 3-4 years and produce only one nest with one young, once every 2-3 years. Thus, an area such as the Gunung Halimun National Park will on average only produce five young birds a year when circumstances are favorable.

It was therefore disturbing to learn last month that a shopkeeper in Bojong Galing village on the road to Pelabuhan Ratu was openly selling two juvenile Javan Hawk Eagles. They were said to have been obtained a few months earlier from Banten, and were likely robbed from nests within the Halimun area. Two young birds from Halimun would mean a loss of some 40 percent or more of all young birds to be produced this year from that area. It is further not unlikely that the nest robber killed the parent bird or birds who usually fiercely protect their young.

The new status of the species as the country's national bird has unintentionally increased the pressure to capture Javan Hawk Eagles. Zoos and other animal parks all want to have their own Burung Garuda Indonesia on display. Taman Mini was the first to obtain one, and now has a subadult bird. The two juvenile birds from the shop in Bojong Genting are now owned by the Safari Park in Cisarua, which already had obtained an adult bird.

The full ecology and behavior of the species has yet to be studied. Little is known about population density at different altitudes used by the birds, their diet, mating behavior, hatching periods, nest choices and location.

The bird is described as a "slope specialist" from hill forest areas. To obtain its food, including small mammals and snakes, it will hunt over natural forest areas from lowlands to mountain tops.

Not known is the effect of cultivated areas between forested mountain areas, the critical width of such areas, the type of land use and land cover that can be used as wildlife corridors or stepping stones between larger forest blocks.

The Javan Hawk Eagle forms a suitable key species or indicator species to monitor environmental quality related to natural forest area, their connectivity and integrity.

Funds are urgently needed to study the species, to monitor its population, to halt illegal nest robbing, capturing and selling of the birds, and to protect the forest from further degradation and fragmentation.

Fortunately, the speed of forest degradation and fragmentation of the remaining natural hill and mountain forests in Java has much slowed down during the last decade, but it still forms an important threat. The most serious threats to the Javan Hawk Eagle are increasingly linked to "hobby " hunters, nest robbers, bird sellers and bird keepers.

Zoos and safari parks tend to over stress their role in ex- situ conservation to justify the keeping of endangered species. It is questionable if they are ready to start breeding raptors such as the Javan Hawk Eagle.

On the other hand, they have a very important role to play to induce care for wildlife and to educate people on the need for in-situ conservation of species in the wild. It would be a logical step for zoos and animal parks to further strengthen linkages between ex-situ and in-situ conservation. This can be done by improving their educational and interpretation facilities on species ecology and status, by supporting field studies on endangered and little known species, and by funding protection activities.

Ex-situ conservation, breeding facilities and management should be planned very carefully. They must be based upon proper knowledge of animal behavior in the wild.

The first priority is to keep the remaining natural forest areas in good condition, and to guarantee an undisturbed forest home for breeding pairs. This, to maintain one viable megapopulation where the subadult birds can still merantau from one forested to the next, not too distant one, in its struggle for life and survival.

The writer is a conservation planner/ecologist.